Tough loss to Oklahoma State pushes La Salle closer to signature win
La Salle has had four chances at signature wins this season. The Explorers got one against Providence, played Baylor and Missouri very good games before losing. Saturday, they had Oklahoma State down by eight points with barely 6 minutes left at the Palestra. And could not quite hold on. The game went into overtime and then a second overtime. It was one of those games where you relive it for a while. One play here or there makes a difference.
La Salle has had four chances at signature wins this season. The Explorers got one against Providence, played Baylor and Missouri very good games before losing. Saturday, they had Oklahoma State down by eight points with barely 6 minutes left at the Palestra. And could not quite hold on. The game went into overtime and then a second overtime. It was one of those games where you relive it for a while. One play here or there makes a difference.
La Salle did enough good things to win a lot of games, but not enough to win this game against this opponent. Oklahoma State (7-1) won it in double OT, 92-87.
Marshall Moses had 30 points and 18 rebounds for the Cowboys. La Salle big men, Aaric Murray and Jerrell Williams, more than held their own, combining for 46 points and 22 rebounds.
It will be no great consolation because losing is still losing, but playing all these good teams has to help La Salle (5-3) down the road.
Dragons on a roll
Drexel has to be one of the surprise teams in the east. Nobody quite knew what to expect of the Dragons, who were not going to have the expected roster, due to legal issues involving two players.
No matter. Drexel has been terrific with two wins over Big 5 teams (Penn, Saint Joseph's). Now, the Dragons have opened their Colonial Athletic Association season with a win on the road - 63-58, against Northeastern.
Chris Fouch, who is emerging as the best shooter in the city, had 27 for Drexel (5-1, 1-0 CAA). Northeastern is 2-4, 0-1.
The scorer is heard from
Penn had been playing pretty well without getting much from Tyler Bernardini. The top scorer from two seasons ago (he missed almost all of last season with a foot injury) had been getting open shots. He just had not been making them.
That changed in the second half against Army at the Izod Center, in East Rutherford, N.J. Bernardini (13 points) was 3-for-3 from the arc in the final 20 minutes as Penn blew the game open and won, 68-52.
Zack Rosen (20 points) was his usual solid self for the Quakers (4-3). Army is 4-4.
The Penn-Army game was the first of a doubleheader. No. 1 Duke beat Butler, 82-70, in the second game, 8 months after their memorable national championship game in Indianapolis.